Happy Accidents {highschool ironstrange uwo}

Part 8

We were silent for a little while, just gazing at each other. We were both tense, anxious, not sure what to say first. I had so much on my mind but just didn't know where to start, and I could tell he was struggling with the same thing.

"I can tell you're not much of a party boy," I teased, hoping it would lighten the mood a little bit.

"Oh, you can already tell?" he chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Just a lucky guess," I shrugged and sat on the stairs, Stephen sitting next to me, "You do look a little lost,"

"I'm not much for huge, drunk crowds," he shrugged and folded his hands in his lap, "Or dancing in front of people,"

"Wait, wait-" I laughed and paused, "So you're saying you've danced alone before?"

"Well- Er- No," he stammered, "I don't have anybody to dance with, and if I did I'd probably embarrass myself,"

I could dance with him.

"Same here, I don't get the most practice," I giggled before there was a short comfortable silence.

"I don't really like crowds in general," he added.

"You like being all alone?" I leaned back against the stair behind me, "With your books and your brains?"

He chuckled, "Or with one other person," he tilted his head and leaned over toward me a little, his voice softening, "Like you,"

I felt my heart skip a beat.

"You wanna get away from the crowd, then, doc?" I forced out.

He stood up, "Lead the way,"

I stood up too, hesitating before making my way to a room. People were usually literally everywhere. Even outside my house, in the basement, sometimes even on the roof- but maybe the bathroom was empty. I began walking to my upstairs bathroom, the biggest one in the house. Sure enough, nobody was in there, but somebody definitely was, it smelled strong of smoke and someone spilled a drink on the floor. Stephen closed the door behind him and stepped around the puddle before I cleaned it. Then, I locked the door.

Stephen put two hands on top of the counter and lifted himself up and on top of it, sitting down.

"Is this better?" I asked, throwing out the paper towels I used to clean the mess.

"A lot better," Stephen nodded and smiled.

I sat up right next to him. Someone had turned the music a lot higher- I could hear it clearly through the floor- Redbone by Childish Gambino was playing. There was a part of the song that sounded strange, though, closer. I realized it wasn't part of the song at all- Stephen was humming.

"You like this song?" I interrupted him. He looked a little stunned, like he was hoping I wouldn't realize.

"Oh, yeah," Stephen chuckled and brushed his feet up against the ground. I swung my feet, which didn't quite reach like his did.

What if I asked him to dance? I wouldn't though, he's obviously not comfortable with it. I shouldn't ask him to. Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it.

"You wanna dance?" whoops. I said it.

"Oh, like, with you?" Stephen's face went from pale to a rosy pink. He glowed from the light gushing from outside the dim bathroom, which we left the light off inside.

"Um.." I felt like I was just punched in the stomach, did he not want to dance with me? I should've shut up, "Yeah, uh.. Sorry, that's probably weird..."